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Earl B. Higgins Award

The Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion proudly hosts the Earl B. Higgins Achievement in Diversity Award annually. The award is presented to an employee and a student in recognition of exemplary strides/contributions in promoting diversity. A presentation and reception are held on the first Wednesday of April every year in honor of the nominees and award recipients. Also honored on this occasion are six students nominated by their Dean to receive the Earl B. Higgins Scholarship.

First presented in April 1996, this award has become an annual event at the Medical University of S.C. The award is a tribute to the late Dr. Earl B. Higgins, former director of affirmative action and minority affairs at MUSC. Dr. Higgins was born 1946 and passed away on August 30, 1992.

During his four-year tenure at MUSC, Dr. Higgins was a warrior for recruitment, retention, and enrichment programs that increased representation of minority students in all programs at MUSC. He also worked diligently to recruit minority faculty members and to ensure equal opportunities for all employees. He served as a mediator in race relations and gender issues. Dr. Higgins seized opportunities to promote a harmonious learning and work environment for all and built bridges between the university and the community it serves.

Until 2005, the criteria for the award favored individuals at senior administrative levels and/or in larger university departments or units. In the spring of 2006, the selection committee adjusted the criteria to make sure that potentially deserving individuals at each and every level of the university and authority would receive equal consideration for their good works in promoting and influencing diversity. Additionally, the committee agreed to honor and acknowledge the achievements of students promoting and influencing diversity and presented the first student leadership in diversity award on April 5, 2006.

This Spring 2017, the Higgins Awards will include a new honoree category, MUSC Health Leadership in Diversity. The added category provides an opportunity to be more inclusive in the recognition of diverse contributions from across the enterprise by particularly honoring those health care professionals who contribute significantly to our broad goals, which include Patients First and Embracing Diversity.

The selection committee solicits nominations for individual students, faculty, staff, and heath care professionals of MUSC who have made a significant and positive contribution to campus n diversity and inclusion in three of the following five areas:

Improves/enhances diversity through excellence in service to students, faculty, staff, patients, families, or visitors

Advances two or more of the several targeted areas of the D&I strategic plan: education and training, engagement and inclusion, communications/community relations/outreach and impacting performance outcomes and assessment

Recognizes and takes initiative to act upon potential opportunities to significantly affect/influence the organization's academic health center environment as it pertains to embracing diversity

Demonstrates an understanding of the benefits of diversity within MUSC and throughout the community and promotes outcomes that “create an inclusive experience for the lives we touch.”

For more information contact the Office of the University Chief Diversity Officer at 843-792-1072 or stop by Basic Sciences Building, (BSB) Suite 104.. You may also email Cody Michael Henderson, Program Coordinator for the Department of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at henderco@musc.edu.